THE GREAT HOUSES.*
MR. AVRAY TIPPING has had the delightful task in preparing the first volume of English Homes: Period V., of exploring, picturing and describing some of the very finest of the great houses of England that can be classed as "Early Georgian" (1714-1760). It is the period of the apotheosis of pure Palladian- ism, the Aug-ustian age when men like Campbell, Ripley, Leoni, Kent, Ware, Wood and Lord Burlington were busy designing in the "new and noble manner." Typical of the age is Mere- worth Castle, that amazing tour de force of Colin Campbell's, where we have, reproduced on Kentish soil, a glorified version of Palladio's famous villa at Vicenza. No doubt such a house may have practical drawbacks—serious drawbacks—connected with difficulties of warming, of service, of bedroom and bath accommodation—but most of us would feel prepared to endure a little discomfort for the sake of the truly superb effects that the architect has contrived both inside the house and out. Houghton Hall, Stoneleigh Abbey, Moor Park, and Holkham are all places of a more regular grandeur, the fine details and dispositions of which may be well seen from the admirable photographs that illustrate the volume, some of them having been specially taken from the air. Besides the houses already named, some twenty others are dealt with, each having Some architectural point to make, and all having history to impart through the medium of Mr. Tipping's very readable notes.
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